


Sauron as a foil to Tar-Míriel and Ar-Pharazôn

by Raaf



Series: Meta Analyses [2]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Character Analysis, Essays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26465131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaf/pseuds/Raaf
Summary: A meta about why I find the dynamic interesting, that Sauron has as a foil to Tar-Míriel and Ar-Pharazôn.
Relationships: Ar-Pharazôn & Sauron | Mairon, Tar-Míriel & Sauron | Mairon
Series: Meta Analyses [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1923727
Kudos: 8





	Sauron as a foil to Tar-Míriel and Ar-Pharazôn

First up is Tar-Míriel. The problem Tar-Míriel has as Ruling Queen, is that you cannot impose reform from the top down, against the wills of your people. Trying to do that just means people rules-lawyer their way around you and act the same in practice, but more discreetly, or outright rebel against your orders when they can. I’m sure you could also think of some of the real-world examples, but let’s not derail into political arguments about specific ones. That the principle is true, I think is obvious. Míriel had to watch her father spend his reign futilely beating his head against that wall, and is acutely aware of that limitation.

Except Tar-Mairon isn’t stuck with mere human limitations. He can and does impose on his people what he thinks is best against their own wills. They might be stuck in a self-destructive pattern and won’t listen to the one that knows better, but he will save them from themselves. Yet going down that road was exactly how good guy Mairon, who wanted to make things better, ended up as Sauron Gorthaur, chief purveyor of capital E Evil.

Sauron had the same conflict in his past that Míriel currently has, but he handled his by going to the logical extreme. Míriel already knows from experience what the practical problems are with forcing reform, but having Sauron as a counterpoint highlights all the philosophical problems with it as well, which adds more depth to her conflict.

I don’t think Tolkien intentionally set it up that way, given that we only see Sauron interact with Pharazôn, and never with Míriel. I’ll call it a serendipity for a fic writer then, because it does fit in very well with his themes, just look at the fantastic[ post](https://warrioreowynofrohan.tumblr.com/post/618412518108528640) Warrioreowynofrohan made about how consensus based decision making is constantly used and validated in lotr. That a great (wo)man single-handedly fixes everything is a myth, and not one Tolkien used.

C.S Lewis has that famous quote about how tyranny exercised for the good of its victims can be the most oppressive, but I think the end part of said quote is the most relevant here: ‘This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.’

Sauron’s biggest sin is pride, his short-lived repentance gets derailed by how easy Sauron found it to influence other rational creatures. Aka, exactly how his ‘ends justifies the means’ tyranny inevitably made him feel about the people he put on a lower level by such treatment.

The Númenóreans' cruel actions are also because of their pride. They take out their dissatisfaction on everyone less powerful than them. Because they are the “Kings among Men” and rate the “Lesser Men’s” lives below their own convenience. Even the Faithful do that, if not quite as bad. Sauron corrupts Númenor by encouraging their self-importance, their notion they have the right to rule the world, and their conviction that they know better than Eru. Sauron manages to appeal to Númenor like that because he share those motives with the Númenóreans, and that’s what Míriel and the Faithful needed to have been able to address in order to have won against him.

* * *

Next up is Pharazôn. As Gandalf said in almost so many words: Sauron’s blind-spot with manipulating and predicting people is that he doesn’t really understand people differing from what he would do. Except Pharazôn absolutely does want to be like the Dark Lord Sauron, that is why he falls hook, line and sinker for Sauron’s manipulations even though he really should have known better.

Wanting the same things and competing for them is the heart of Pharazôn and Sauron’s conflict. Both want world-domination and see the other as the rival standing in his way. Sauron tries to claim the same titles of ‘King of Kings’ and ‘Lord of the World’ that Pharazôn felt entitled to, that is what provokes Pharazôn into fighting him. Pharazôn, like Sauron, turns to Morgoth because he wants to gain something out of it, but, also like Sauron, ends up just turning into a Morgoth-esque figure himself instead. Remember that Ar-Pharazôn, not Sauron, is the one that Akallabêth calls “mightiest tyrant that had yet been in the world since the reign of Morgoth”.

Fair enough, other antagonists, like Saruman, want to be bigger and badder Sauron 2.0 too, they just don’t succeed. What makes this relationship more unique is that Sauron also kind of wants to be Ar-Pharazôn. Sauron’s reaction in Akallabêth to seeing Númenor for the first time is  _envy_. 

Sauron doesn’t entirely like being Sauron. ‘Annatar’ said that he wanted to make Middle-earth as fair as Valinor, and I think he really does mean that to an extent. Númenor is bright and beautiful, not dark and depressing like Mordor. It’s every thing he lost when he left Valinor to become Sauron. And then he brings Númenor down to Mordor’s level instead of raising Middle-earth up to Valinor’s level. Because Sauron doesn’t entirely  _ want  _ to give up being Sauron either.

Pharazôn and Sauron share the flaws of being arrogant and power-hungry, causing them to end up effectively similar as tyrants, but they don’t otherwise seem to have much in common in terms of personality or motives. Pharazôn isn’t a reformer like Sauron was, he never has any delusions that the people he oppresses will be better off for it. The Númenórean imperialism goes from tyrannical to nakedly malicious under Pharazôn: 'they came no longer as bringers of gifts, nor even as rulers, but as fierce men of war.' Pharazôn is a people person, even after he descended into evil, all his own people except the Faithful are willing to follow him into evil. Sauron relies entirely on deception and masking to deal with people, even before he descended into evil he wasn’t very good at really connecting to other people.

They are very different people who ended up in the same place, thanks to the ‘banality of evil’

* * *

Finally, Tar-Míriel and Ar-Pharazôn together. King ‘basically became Morgoth-lite’ Pharazôn is Míriel’s husband and the Faithful are his loyal subjects, which rather undermines their moral high-ground against Sauron. The Númenórean’s internal problems are what really let Sauron bring them down, and Tar-Míriel and Ar-Pharazôn’s relationship is the microcosm of that.


End file.
